GOOGLE: TRIAL DELAYS IN PRICE COMPARISON CASE

CENTRAL LONDON

A UK price comparison site suing Google over alleged search manipulation won an adjournment after a judge ruled it was 'inappropriate' to hold a trial at this stage of the European Commission's probe into the internet giant.

The High Court trial, between Infederation, the operator of Foundem.co.uk, and Google, has been postponed until July 2016 after the court received two confidential letters from the Commission which gave an update on the state of their investigation.

The English litigation and the European probe are looking into similar allegations against Google, but under European law, national courts cannot give judgments that could conflict with future decisions of the EC.

In practice, this often delays damages trials until the conclusion of anti-trust investigations and related appeals in Luxembourg.